Today we present a component with which the user of liquid cooling systems are very familiar. We speak of the reservoir produced by Alphacool, the Cape Core 30 Acetal Black, characterized by a cylindrical structure of about 30cm.As we shall see it lends itself particularly to modding your PC, with the ability to integrate LEDs that can give wonderful play of light.
Reservoirs, as many people know, are an essential component of liquid cooling systems. They have , in fact, the essential function to act as a liquid's containing buffer, preventing that the pump, becoming even more powerful, remain dry and being damaged. The Alphacool, a German company producing the Cape Core 30 Acetal Black,, is well known on the cooling market, especially in the field of liquid cooling systems for its original solutions. The phrase that characterizes Alphacool, printed on all its products is in fact "The Cooling Company.” The products in the vast Alphacool catalog, of which Aquatuning is an authorized dealer in the world, are characterized by innovative and original solutions.
Let us now turn to describe the product and the bundle that comes with it. The Cape Core 30 Acetal Black is one of many reservoirs produced by Alphacool.
The XtremeHardware staff has recently reviewed for you also the Cape Corp Bullseye Black Pro and the Repack-cooling Slot-In Delrin white.
The Alphacool Cape Fuzion Core 30 can be purchased from this Aquatuning address: http://www.aquatuning.it/product_info.php/info/p11467_Alphacool-Cape-Fuzion-Core-30-Acetal-Black.html
Product presentation and Content
The packaging outside looks visually appealing, the product full of lighting effects is depicted in various colors. Incidentally, as we will show later, the reservoir is equipped with some special features that allow you to enhance their aesthetic effect.
Besides the reservoir, surrounded by a shock-absorbing material, we find 6 metal caps with O-ring for sealing.
Finally in the bundle there are two black plastic brackets with snap closure for securing the tubular container to the wall.
Component Technical Properties
The first feature of this reservoir is the ability to completely dismantle it piece by piece, separating especially the tubular main body in shock-resistant PVC to facilitate and simplify the periodic cleaning.
Since the tubular shape, as can be seen from the photos, the reference dimensions are the length of 340 mm and a diameter of 60 mm. The empty weight including caps is just below 800 grams. From the photos before you have surely wondered why the presence of two tubes, well the reason is the possibility of using the reservoir in two ways. Who has only one circuit can emphasize the aesthetic effect by inserting in the inner cylinder, hermetically sealed, a colored neon. While those who had 2 pumps and then 2 separate circuits can use both compartments as they are separated and sealed.
Even in the latter case, the aesthetic effect is always guaranteed by the 4-cylinder on the base cap that will be illuminated by the 4 LEDs inserted in the holes as in the photo.
On the base you can see both the small holes to accommodate the LED, both the larger holes of G ¼" on which the fittings will be connected. In the picture below, however, we observe the upper cap that goes to seal the tube and the two compartments.
Follow us in the next section relating to the assembly and disassembly.
Scheme of assembly/disassembly
The reservoir comes fully assembled in its original packaging, so if you want to put the neon in a central location to create the optical illusion that we will show later, you must unscrew the top cap. Then insert the neon in the central chamber, by passing the wire in the hole, this will involve the use of only the outer chamber to store the liquid. Then you will need to screw the cap and insert the connectors into the holes on the outer compartment. If you want to use a double loop in the system and then you want to use both compartments, no need to disassemble, simply screw the fittings. The only precaution, since the caps are made of Acetal, featuring great resistance and being the fluid pressure levels rather low, it makes no sense to use pliers and keys to tighten the caps and any connections: just use the sensitivity of the hands and feel the tightening limit. Recall that the caps are supplied to close the holes that are not used.
Test System and Test Methodology
The tests we made are purely demonstrative as the reservoir is large enough to render useless any evaluation of flow tests. Therefore in the next section we will show you the photo series of the effects of light and color with which we can customize our Personal Computers, and especially our liquid cooling system.
Test Results
Below are images taken with the neon in the center.
Below, instead we can see the reservoir with both compartments that can be used for the liquid and connected LEDs on the base to create stunning lighting effects.
Conclusions
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The reservoirs themselves are simple products. But if the product is made with cleverness and enriching both the functionality and aesthetics, then a reservoir becomes interesting from every point of view. The price of the Alphacool Cape Fuzion Core 30, about 50 €, has not seemed excessive, but it is still demanding than that of the other reservoirs. For the group of users addressed by the product and the relative size of the reservoir, requiring an appropriately large case for fixing, the price will be absolutely no problem. On the other hand, the aesthetic effects that can be achieved will certainly repay the money.
PROs:
- Robustness
- Disassembly for cleaning
- Double chamber to build 2 circuits
- Aesthetics
CONs:
- Price slightly high
- Size not suitable for all cases
A special thanks goes to Aquatuning to send the product reviewed.
Valter d'Attoma
Translated by Marco Comerci